Isn\u2019t it interesting how liberals and conservatives can have such divergent points of view regarding the political issues of our day? Even well-informed, well-educated, articulate people can see the world so differently.<\/p>\n
I offer these observations to introduce what I consider to be one of the most critical issues in all of life:\u00a0 a person\u2019s worldview. Now this might not be a word that we use or hear in our everyday lives, but everyone has a worldview. It determines everything.<\/p>\n
One\u2019s worldview is based on the assumptions that we make about life and how life works. It is the lens through which we see life.<\/p>\n
Your worldview has been formed over time and has been influenced by your upbringing, your education, the media, your relationships\u2026really, everything that has poured into your life has helped to form this perspective. The foundation of your worldview is based on your assumptions about God. You can call it your faith view of reality<\/em>.<\/p>\n Dr. Tim Keller<\/a> says that how we relate to God is the foundation of our thinking. It completely determines the way that we view the world. He contends that all of our reasoning proceeds from our view of God.\u00a0 It begins there.<\/p>\n Take atheism, for instance.\u00a0 Perhaps you do not believe in God; that disbelief actually is<\/em><\/strong> a belief taken by faith.\u00a0 It is your faith view of reality. Whether you realize it or not, all of your reasoning proceeds from this. You screen out all that does not fit this view of life.<\/p>\n Journalist David Klinhoffer wrote an article in The Los Angeles Times<\/em><\/a>, and he says:<\/p>\n What we are observing in our society seems to be the struggle of religion vs. no religion. In actuality it is a conflict of various religions including secularism. If you object to secularism as a religion because it has no deity, let\u2019s remember that other faiths like Zen\u2014Buddhism also lack a belief in God.\u00a0 What is religion, then?<\/u>\u00a0\u00a0 Simply this:\u00a0 a religion is a system of belief explaining where life comes from, what life means, and what we as living beings are supposed to be doing with our few allotted years.\u00a0 Answers of these questions are not provable; they are taken by faith.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In our culture today, there are two primary worldviews: Christianity and Secularism. The two do not agree on where life comes from, what life means, or what we as human being should be doing during the few allotted years that we have on earth. They do not agree on what motivates our actions.<\/p>\n One of the most emotional and divisive issues in our American society today is that of human sexuality. The traditional Christian view of sexuality has been the predominant view in our country since its founding.<\/p>\n Christians contend that the healthiest, most meaningful, most satisfying, and most pleasurable sexual experience is found between a man and a woman in a covenant relationship called marriage. A covenant is a promise \u2013 a pledge of love, loyalty, and faithfulness. A covenant involves continuity \u2013 the sense of a common future \u2013 to look forward to and a history to look back on together. A covenant means belonging \u2013 a commitment to a rich and growing relationship of love and care.<\/p>\n In Matthew 10: 4 & 5, Jesus quotes from the Old Testament, \u201cA man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. \u201c<\/p>\n The word cleave <\/em>is a Hebrew word that means absolute unity. Total union. Deep, profound solidarity.\u00a0 Not just a physical union but an emotional union, an economic union, a social union. A complete union.\u00a0 A complete union. To cleave to someone is to say, \u201cI belong exclusively to you. Permanently. Everything I have is yours. I am yours.\u201d<\/p>\n This is what marriage is. This is why God created sex \u2013 for cleaving. Sex is a cleaving apparatus.<\/p>\n God made sex to be able to say to one other human being. I belong completely, and exclusively, and permanently to you. All of me. Everything. Most followers of the traditional Christian view of sexuality believe that it is sacred, beautiful, and meaningful.<\/p>\n In the modern secular view of sexuality, God is not a factor. For most modern people, sex is nothing more than another form of pleasurable recreation. You may want to live in a committed relationship, or you might prefer to have multiple partners.<\/p>\n The most prominent sexologist in modern times is Alfred Kinsey. His research on human sexuality is extensive. A recent movie on his life\u2019s work stars Liam Neeson.<\/p>\n Kinsey was a pure secularist, and he believed that God has nothing to do with sex. His view was that, as a mammal, you should be able to enjoy sex with any other mammal of your choosing. While this might sound extreme, sound reason alone would have to agree with Kinsey. As the Russian author, Fyodor Dostoevsky<\/a>, rightly stated, \u201cIf there is no god, all things are permissible.\u201d This would include human sexuality.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t ignore the contrast of two opposing worldviews. The question to pose, then, is this:\u00a0 Which one has the ring of truth to it? Or, as Tim Keller asks, \u201cWhich worldview has the most \u2018explanatory power\u2019 to make sense of the world that we live in?\u201d<\/p>\n Richard\u00a0E Simmons III<\/a>\u00a0is the founder and Executive Director of\u00a0The Center for Executive Leadership<\/a>\u00a0and a\u00a0best-selling author<\/a>. Richard\u2019s new book,\u00a0<\/i>Reflections on Happiness: In a Broken and Chaotic World\u00a0is available for pre-order on\u00a0Amazon<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Isn\u2019t it interesting how liberals and conservatives can have such divergent points of view regarding the political issues of our day? Even well-informed, well-educated, articulate people can see the world so differently. I offer these observations to introduce what I consider to be one of the most critical issues in all of life:\u00a0 a person\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4537,"featured_media":1616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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